I'm in favour of improving our current situation. I think the current situation, for a number of reasons, is not one that should be sustained. When it takes so long for people who have refugee protection needs to find that out, that's a bad situation. When it takes so long for people who want to take advantage of the refugee system and they want to put down roots in this country--and I appreciate the positive decision they've made about this country--then it throws into disrepute a system that is intended to show the best of what Canada is. And I think that's really important. So the current system needs to be improved.
When you have the number of people that we have right now in our backlog, it's going to take money to correct that situation. There is just no other way around it. I remember going to Treasury Board once and trying to explain this kind of situation and telling them, pay me now or pay me later, but pay me you will, because this simply costs money. The only question is, how are we going to do it? I don't think the status quo is an option.
I think the spending of money, if it's done properly.... For example, if you combine really effective methods to stop people who just want a better life and who use the refugee determination system to get that, that money is effective. And if the numbers come down, the costs will come down. Sometimes it can be an upfront cost. Now, I don't want to raise hopes too much on that one, because the immigration world is one that confounds almost everyone continuously. So I think the money has to be spent.
If you start removing people in numbers, the message starts to get through that it's not worth it, that if you want to go somewhere and make some money to start building a better life, then don't do it here, do it elsewhere, try elsewhere.
Those are the kinds of things you have to keep in mind. The worst thing you can do--and this is the irony--the fairer you are, the greater is the exposure that you have to people who just want that better life. That's where you have to make some really tough decisions.
So I say no to the status quo. In the short run it's not an option. We need changes.
As for how well the current system will work, I haven't studied it in sufficient detail to give as thoughtful an answer as you might like. But in this business I hesitate to be too positive, because the demand by people for a better life almost always overcomes the efforts of government to manage it.